But what is happening in Taranto? People get excited about the arrival of cruise ships, about the construction of sports facilities, in view of the Mediterranean Games, regardless of its real value, about the forecasts of foreign arrivals, about futuristic space flights, but no one really cares about the isolation in which Taranto is left. The airport remains closed, despite battles and proclamations that have been going on for years. The highway, despite programs that have now lasted forty years, which had even financed the three and a half kilometer link that should connect the Massafra exit with the 106, remains incomplete, with inevitable traffic jams especially on departures with red labels. The station, now reduced to a railway toll booth, no longer offers direct departures to Rome, pushing our city back decades. The Railways have in fact made it clear that no Red Arrow will ever connect Taranto with Rome again. High speed remains a dream.
Isolation
In this perspective, even the BRT that the Municipality has designed and is pursuing with conviction, seems even disproportionate: quickly connecting the city with the railway station, from which few trains depart, none of which are direct, vaguely resembles the project for the bridge over the Strait of Messina, which would allow (in the unfortunate event of its construction) to connect the two regions in a few minutes, in a way that is not only useless, but even harmful, because on both sides of the two entrances, enormous traffic jams will occur. The road and railway arteries are absolutely inadequate, unable to cope with normal traffic, and a river of vehicles landing on the island would find themselves queuing up to continue at a walking pace.
At this point, one wonders: will Taranto be prepared for the great movement that is expected for tourism in the near future and in particular for the Mediterranean Games?
Assoturismo
Assoturismo Confesercenti Taranto is asking this question with some concern: “Given the absence of the airport (strategic for the arrival of foreign tourists), do we want to talk about trains? The number of available trains is decreasing more and more and, in short Getting to Taranto is not easy. Even the very latest news coming from RFI, namely that the stop in Taranto of the Red Arrow shas been eliminated and therefore there is no longer even a direct train from Taranto to Rome and vice versa, making Taranto increasingly isolated and outside of tourist flows: we will have to settle for inevitable changes in Bari or replacement buses”.
And, after having underlined the backward state of the station, which no longer has service for travellers, Confesercenti also underlines “the lack of connections between the airports of Bari and Brindisi with our city, if we cannot obtain, unlike Bari and Brindisi, as it now seems, high speed, that the competent authorities at least ensure the necessary connections with the airports, and also more regional rail connections. By the way, where are we with the famous regional contribution for connections, as happened for Salento and Gargano? When will it arrive and how much will Taranto be entitled to? Just to get organised even if the summer season is already half over”.
